Scottish authorities have agreed to collaborate with South Korea on expanding tidal generation, hoping to further exploit the power potential of a coastline which is pounded by the North and Irish Seas and Atlantic Ocean.
Scottish Development International, the government’s trade and investment arm, will cooperate with South Korea’s Incheon Metropolitan City to share knowledge, ideas and technologies, according a statement.
Scotland hopes to source all of its electricity from clean sources by 2020, and sees tidal power as a crucial part of that plan. Government studies show it may have as much as a quarter of Europe’s tidal resources. It also offers one of the most generous subsidies for marine energy in the world.
South Korea is also expanding its use of renewables, introducing rules last year requiring power utilities to get 2 per cent of their supply from clean sources. The ‘renewable portfolio standard’ is expected to rise toward 10 per cent until 2022.